Brush identifying means



March 19, 1957 s. c. PEPLIN 2,785,486

BRUSH IDENTIFYING MEANS Filed Sept. 28, 1953- IIII l INVENTOR. I

Sha na/v CZ PEPL lN Armgzvsy United States Patent BRUSH IDENTIFYING MEANS Stephen C. Peplin, Lakewood, Ohio Application September 28, 1953, Serial No. 382,770 1 Claim. (Cl. 40-2) This invention relates to brush identifying means adapted for marking a tooth brush or the like by the user, the same being quickly and easily accomplished by the user without the aid of tools or special equipment.

It frequently happens in the home that two or more members of a family store their tooth brushes in close proximity to each other in racks, cupboards, or the like, and the problem is presented of identifying the individual brushes. Identifying indicia or markings, such as initials or the like, could be placed on the brush by the manufacturer or the retail merchant, but when thus provided, it would require a large stock of indicia to meet various requirements and would be relatively expensive. I have discovered that by placing a group of indicia, such as the alphabet, or the like, on the tooth brush handle at the time it is manufactured and providing easily operated means for identifying the particular indicia corresponding to the initials of the brush user, the brush marking may be performed by the user without the use of tools or special equipment.

Therefore, an object of this invention is to provide a quickly and easily-operated means for marking tooth brush handles which are performed by the user, without the use of tools or special equipment.

Objects are to provide such means which can be manufactured at a relatively low cost, are simple in operation, and permanent in duration.

These and further objects will be apparent in the course of the following specification.

In the drawings forming a part of this specification:

Fig. 1 is an elevational view of a tooth brush embodying my invention;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken on the line 22 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an elevational view of a slightly modified form;

Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken on the line 4-4 of Fig. 3;

hFig. 5 is an elevational view of another modified form, w ile, P Fig. 6 is a sectional view taken on the line 6-6 of Referring to Fig. 1, the numeral 10 refers to a tooth brush formed of suitable material, such as a suitable plastic, including a conventional handle 11 at one end and a bristle supporting back 12 at the other end having bristles 13 suitably mounted therein. The brush handle 11 is provided on each side with two series of opposed circu lar recesses 14, separated by a thin film of material 15, which may be about .01 of an inch in thickness and may be formed of the same material as the handle 11, the recesses 14 being positioned and arranged in such manner that the film 15 between aligned recesses 14 may be readily punctured or fractured by inserting a sharp point such as a pencil point or the like therein, thus forming a continuous hole or aperture through the handle.

Identifying means such as the letters of the alphabet 16 are disposed in two rows along the back side of the handle between the two rows of circular recesses 14, and are arranged in such manner that one letter is disposed adjacent each recess. The alphabet letters 16 may be moulded on the handle 11 or may be painted thereon, or disposed in any suitable manner. Obviously, other forms of indicia, symbols or numerals may be used.

2,785,486 iiatented Mar. 19, 1957 The operation of the initialed brush disclosed herein is obvious. The user punctures the film 15 in the recesses disposed adjacent certain of the letters 16 corresponding to the initials of the users name, thus providing holes through the handle adjacent the desired initials which readily serve to identify the initials of the user.

The modified form of my invention illustrates in Figs. 3 and 4 a tooth brush 10a having a handle 11a and a bristle supporting back 12a, supporting bristles 13a. The margins of the brush handle 11a are provided with a se* ries of V-shaped notches 14a having a thin film of material 15a extending along the outside margins of the handle. The film 15a may be about .01 inch in thickness and formed of the same material as the handle 11a and is adapted to be broken or fractured or broken by a finger nail, a pin, or any suitable means.

The letters of the alphabet 16a are disposed in two rows inwardly of the margins of the handle 11a, one letter being positioned adjacent each notch 14a. In this form of the invention the film of material 15a extending over the particular notch 14a adjacent the particular alphabet letter 16a to be designated, may be fractured or broken as above described, thus providing a continuous triangularly shaped hole through the handle opposite the designated initials of the user.

Another form of the invention illustrated in Figs. 5 and 6 includes a tooth brush handle 11b having a series of notches 14b, disposed along the margins of the bandle 11b, each notch having one letter 16b of the alphabet formed therein in such manner that the letter is depressed below the surface of the notch 14b in the general form of a channel of such depth it may be readily filled with such marking material as chalk, paint, or any other suitable material which may be placed therein by rubbing it in with a finger of the hand of the user, or may be placed therein by a brush or cloth. Preferably some colored marking material is rubbed into the channels of the letter, in order to provide a distinctive marking which is readily distinguished. In this form of the invention it is not necessary to puncture or fracture material of the brush handle, it being only required to fill in the desired depressed letters 16b with identifying material which may be accomplished by rubbing the marking material into the letter 16b.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the invention disclosed herein is illustrative only, and may be variously changed, used or modified without sacrificing the advantages thereof or departing from the spirit of the invention.

I claim:

A tooth brush identifying means including a tooth brush having a handle portion and bristle portion of appreciable thickness, identifying indicia comprising letters of the alphabet arranged consecutively along the edges of the handle, and a plurality of reduced portions at the edges of the handle each forming a thin puncturable integral membrane in the handle adjacent each letter of the alphabet whereby certain reduced portions may be physically designated in situs to identify certain letters corresponding to the initials of the user of the tooth brush.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 832,232 Blish Oct. 2, 1906 975,887 Newton Nov. 12, 1910 1,222,377 Flint Apr. 10, 1917 2,001,679 Haughey May 14, 1935 2,016,644 Luball Oct. 8, 1935 2,201,524 Esty May 21, 1940 FOREIGN PATENTS 118,528 Australia May 16, 1944 

